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Police have appealed for witnesses who were in the area at the time to come forward.

The river path from Sainsburys to Norfolk Crescent remains was taped off for a time as inquiries continued.

If you saw what happened or where near the scene last night call 101.

The latest victim is the fifth person to drown in the River Avon in Bath in four-and-a-half years.

Just over three months ago Christopher Taylor, a 21-year-old chemistry student at the University of Bath, drowned.

Question were asked again about how river safety could be improved following the January tragedy.

This followed the death of Bath Spa student James Bubear, 18, who died in 2011, Casper Flagg, who drowned in 2009, and Kharunigan Jayanatham, 21, who slipped into the water while on his way to a university lecture in 2009.

16 comments

Why should the council, or indeed any other body, be expected to put more safety measures in place? People need to take responsibility for their own actions. At the weekend I walked along a cliff path in Devon, a few inches from the edge. If I had slipped and fallen to my death I am sure there would not be calls for the cliff edge to be fenced off. Common sense is required. I am a good swimmer, and have walked along the river path in Bath many times, but would never do so at night; that would be asking for trouble.

aurea_flamma knowing your background as I do I consider your opinion on these river safety matters to be second to none. Highlighted escape ladders, grab lines, signs and solar lighting are the obvious and least expensive safety measures that should be implemented NOW!!! Not hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of fencing..... Inattentive, drunken or just plain stupid people will still manage to fall into the river and accidents are always just around the corner. It's enabling people to easily identify from the river surface in daylight or pitch darkness the means and routes of escape that should be prioritised......It is not just about falling in from the riverbank. People fall in from boats........fade2 gray, sorry but I don't wish to conduct a 'was he or wasn't he' supporting reference debate with you. I'm too upset with yet another death on our stretch of river having spent years trying to get sensible safety measures put in place, as has aurea_flamma. Let's leave it at that and respect this latest poor soul whomsoever he may be.

@capndave: "Kharunigan Jayanatham had not consumed alcohol prior to falling into the river..." - Do you have any reference to support that? Though he may not have been 'under the influence' in that sense, his attention would certainly have been distracted while using his mobile phone [ http://tinyurl.com/olqwqtu ].

An absolute tragedy my condolences to the family and friends of the man. Why, oh why, don't or won't the councillors and officers do something about avoidable river deaths? In the scheme of council spending the solutions are inexpensive - if only someone in the council would give this patronage it deserves and take this on as their 'pet' project to drive forwards with equal vigour to the self interest 'pet projects' we could see an end to needless deaths in the river, as Viscount_V states, and I agree - THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE - How long will it be before H.M. Coroner issues a Prevention of Future Death Report (Rule 43) to the council?

This is not acceptable. It's pitch black at that point.... How many more on your conscience B&NES before you implement ROSPA's recommendations in full? This may not have been prevented I don't know, but only a few weeks ago a child fell in off her bike at another part of our river and was narrowly saved. A father and daughter could be added to this shameful list of lives lost.
Those of you bemoaning those unfortunate victims of our river, perhaps pelican crossings and lollypop patrols should never have been implemented for safety measures, each man, woman or child should risk the chicken run??
My condolences to his family, may we at last learn and prevent further loss of life on our river.